The Dragon Rouge agency lights up the "Lighthouse" of Nanterre

It is a classic office building that the DRAGON ROUGE agency has just completely transformed. The site initiated during the summer of 2019 has just been completed. Exit Magellan, headquarters since 2001 of the automotive supplier FAURECIA. Make way for the "LIGHTHOUSE" - literally the Lighthouse - which we should not miss indeed. And for good reason, since one of its distinctive signs is a gigantic lamp surmounted by a lampshade illuminated at night which crosses the building 23 meters from bottom to top.

The owners have entrusted the DRAGON ROUGE agency with the task of reconfiguring and repositioning this office building with six floors and 10600 square meters of surface. The objective was to revitalize the building, on the edge of Paris and La Défense, to create services, interest and arouse the desire to come and work in Nanterre. It was about giving the building a new, strong and differentiating personality.

Alongside Karl Petit's studio K, which designed the architecture and layout of the actual office spaces, the DRAGON ROUGE design agency signs a large part of the LIGHTHOUSE spaces, i.e. 2600 square meters in total, on the ground floor. -floor on the 6th floor, through the roof terrace and the exteriors.

The translation of a new way of working

To arouse the desire to come and work in this building, DRAGON ROUGE worked along two creative axes: first, the creation of a name and a strong, innovative identity that created a “wow” effect. Hence the idea of ​​a symbolic and iconic object. It is this colossal lamp, the real backbone of the building that crosses the tower from bottom to top, from the foot on the ground floor to the gigantic lampshade on the roof terrace of the 5th floor. If the building is invested by a single company, it will bring together the teams. Otherwise, it will in any case create links between the different platforms.

In addition, the agency was based on the new expectations of employees in terms of workspaces: to have comfortable, hybrid, versatile places that can be adapted as needed during the day. Warm, friendly workplaces, a bit like the interior of a house.

Multipurpose spaces, hybrid places and modern materials

From the bottom to the top of the building, the spaces designed by DRAGON ROUGE are the creative translation of the equation necessary for new office buildings: comfortable, modular spaces with partitions or open space, versatile. As for the materials, they are modern and practical in use, suitable for high traffic areas such as offices. The floors are soft and silent, easy to maintain, as is the neo skai of the armchairs.

The ground floor. The majestic entrance hall is largely occupied by the foot of the giant lamp, transformed into a circular seat for visitors. The ground floor also accommodates a concierge and changing rooms. This is where the business center is also located: four modular meeting rooms to accommodate 8 to 24 people, a “work café” and a lounge area, not to mention a coworking space in the lobby mezzanine.

Still on the ground floor, is the inter-company restaurant. Here, DRAGON ROUGE, keen to offer diversity to employees, has imagined several restaurant atmospheres:

• Dining areas like in the kitchen with workshop-style glazing, high or normal seats, lamps with visible filament bulbs.
• Breakfast areas in the living room with large rounded partitions, circular benches, screened screens, and lighting reminiscent of Haussmannian moldings.
• A dining room atmosphere with large wooden tables like host tables, mismatched chairs in different colors.
• Small boxes for more intimate lunches to eat alone or in pairs.

Different materials specify each space, the general effect evoking the living rooms of a house.

The forum. This is the other centerpiece on the ground floor. This modular space, equipped with retractable platforms, cupboards integrated into the partitions, spotlights, with a large mosaic carpet in orange-red colors in the center and matching poufs, is versatile and can be adjusted according to the activities: rest room, table tennis, sports hall, exhibition showroom in natural light or opaque 100-seat auditorium….

The roof terrace and outdoor spaces: DRAGON ROUGE has invested in outdoor spaces by seeking a balance between parking lots and green spaces. On the 5th floor, the roof terrace from which emerges the shade of the giant lamp required particular care so that this colossal and openwork shade is a source of light.

Dragon Rouge was responsible for the design and execution monitoring of the entire program as an agent of the project management group.

With the LIGHTHOUSE, it is a new light on the ways of working and on the office real estate of tomorrow that DRAGON ROUGE translates.

Among its activities, Dragon Rouge creates commercial and tertiary spaces, paying particular attention to offices.

The acceleration of remote work and the digitization of work tools are changing this office model. From a place of production, offices become places of status, innovation, and celebration of corporate culture. They help to promote the intangible asset that is the company's brand, and are more than ever the expression of its culture and its raison d'être.